Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said his patience is "running thin" with the Rays stadium and attendance situation that he termed ecomomically not "tolerable."

Selig said he no timetable for action and is constant communication with Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg.

"It is beyond disappointing,'' Selig said Tuesday afternoon. "You can not ask a franchise to continue, when they have been so competitive and really, really done a marvelous job, in a situation that is economically not tolerable.''

Selig said the Rays average attendance, which ranks second to last in the majors, was "very disappointing and very worrisome.''

Further, he said, "look at their club in the major leagues and it's competitive, and is averaging 18,000 people a game. That may have been okay in 1956, but it's not okay today.''

Selig said there is "no question" the Rays, who have 14 seasons left on their use agreement at Tropicana Field, have a "stadium problem."Selig said he will continue conversations with Sternberg to find a solution.

"The question is what to about it and when to do it and where, and those are conversations Mr. Sternberg and I will have,'' Selig said.

"I think my patience is running as thin as his, if not more so. I don't know what will happen with that; he and I need to have a lot more conversations.''

About the blog

The Tampa Bay Rays will head into the 2015 season with Evan Longoria, Chris Archer, Alex Cobb and plenty of new faces, including manager Kevin Cash. Can they upend the Orioles in the highly competitive AL East? Come here to follow Rays news at Tropicana Field and beyond.